A month back I wrote a piece on a fiction author who was pioneering a short fiction work on Twitter (Twitter Novels: Really?), and it seems that this form of tweeting is already picking up some steam and moving towards the beginnings of its own genre.

The term “tweetfic” is starting to gain popularity as a way to describe fictional literature delivered through Twitter. Using the 140 character limit, writers are already testing their versatility and jumping on this opportunity to showcase their skills on this popular new forum.

Working within a rigid structure is nothing new for literature. Haiku’s, a form of japanese poetry are written in metrical phrases of 5, 7, 5. Shakespeare popularized iambic pentameter which consistent of 5 “feet” of stressed and unstressed syllables. These guidelines gave writers a framework to push against that many found very conducive to cohesive creativity. Sometimes ultimate freedom can be a little TOO open and leave writers feeling as if they don’t know where to begin.

Will tweetfic have the same inspirational appeal and lasting power? Perhaps. Several tweetfic publishers have already sprung up trying to be the first to market and snatch up the early adapter audience. Check them out on twitter at @tweetthemeat, @Nanoism, @Thaumatrope, @Outshine, @Picfic, and @Escarp. They all have slightly different angles and modes for delivering (and receiving) new fiction submissions. Time will tell which ones will prove to be most effective.

Recently, Fairmont Chicago engaged envisionit media (in collaboration with Maven MKTG) to create and manage an ongoing Twitter campaign to help promote the hotel and auxilary restaurant and spa businesses located within the hotel.

The hotel boasts marvelous accomodatations and an impressive 500MM renovation. Within the Fairmont Chicago are a wine bar, a fine dining restaurant, a sushi restaurant/lounge, and a full spa. The challenge before the social media team was two-fold – 1.) to increase business to the hotel by increasing awareness, and 2.) to create cross promotional opportunities between the various entities.

The first step of creating a smart Twitter campaign always includes the development of a strategically designed Twitter background. For Fairmont’s case, this background had to communicate the brand quality associated with their establishment, as well as feature the various establishments within Fairmont that guests and local Chicagoans would enjoy with Fairmont. Once the Fairmont Chicago Twitter identity was properly designed, the next step was to attract the right following.

Through a personal, direct marketing campaign campaign, Maven MKTG identified and reached out to key influencers in the Twitter community who were involved in an industry related to hotels or Chicago hospitality.

After establishing a strong base of influential followers, they announced and carried out a Twitter contest designed to spead awareness of Fairmont and a promotional special they had advertised on their website. Essential elemments of the contest included sending “Tweets” to the participants following, and joining the Fairmont Chicago’s Facebook group.

In the end, almost 10% of the existing Fairmont Chicago following participated in the contest and Fairmont Chicago’s following nearly doubled within a week of the contest’s start. As an added bonus, the winner of the contest was so happy with his prize that he wrote a blog entry about the contest.

Thought you’d heard of everything? Think again. Twitter novels are being tweeted, 140 characters at a time, as we speak. Pioneered in April of 08 by @smallplaces, Twitter novels are emerging as the newest form of book distribution.

People are always looking for new creative ways to use Twitter to promote their business, and writers are certainly no different. Will this trend get traction? Only time will tell.

Have you heard of a good “case study” for Twitter novels? Please feel free to share below in the comments!

To promote it’s upcoming movie, Terminator Salvation, Sony has launched a very savvy twitter-based campaign to get people excited. Twitter games are the latest and greatest when it comes to marketing on Twitter. Users are drawn in because of the entertainment value they wish to get from it. They are not being sold a product. This is consistent with the golden rule of social media/open source culture which states: give first, then receive? Adding/offering value is a must if you want to win the favor (attention) of the web hordes.

Terminator Salvation is a movie about the post apocalyptic world where the machines have taken over and humans are fighting for survival. This really was a perfect match for Twitter in many ways. The campaign was designed to allow Twitter users to join in the fight against the machines. While these users are getting involved in the struggle they are investing themselves in the story. They feel like they have a stake in the outcome. Brilliant! The ongoing “missions” that are sent out to the twittersphere can contain little tidbits from the plotline and direct Twitter “freedom fighters” to any piece of marketing Sony wishes. It’s a win/win for both parties.

The obvious other benefit is that by participating in this game you are sending out constant plugs and referrals to the Terminator twitter account. All and all a very well thought out, a propos Twitter strategy. While games are not appropriate methods to advertise products in every industry, an action adventure movie is clearly a great candidate.

A new trend is gaining speed big time on twitter recently, known as “FollowFriday”. If you are an active Twitter user it is likely that you have seen the seemingly nonsensical posts similar to this “#followfriday – @johnmarlow, @fairmontchicago, @mavenMKTG, etc, etc”. Basically just the words “followfriday” followed by a bunch of usernames.

What does this mean?

#followfriday is used as an indicator of what that poster feels are good people to follow. One of the major reason people use twitter is to get good information. That said, knowing who to follow can be very valuable. If someone indicates you as someone to follow that means they value your posts and think that others would benefit from following you as well. It’s a virtual tip of the hat, if you will, showing respect to you with the hope that you might extend the same courtesy.

When do people mutually extend this offer, both are benefited by the exposure from the other’s follower pool. Since no two people are likely have all the same contacts there is rarely a case when there is no potential benefit for both. Although this is a good way to self promote, you need to be cognizant of the fact that the spirit of this activity is to share valauble contacts with others. Mutual following just for purely the sake of self-promotion is frowned upon.

Starting Groups and Fanpages is so easy that it can be done by almost anyone. They have become very popular and today you would be hardpressed to find a company with any sort of national advertising campaign that DID NOT have a presence on any of the social media websites.

The Future of Applications in Social Media is the creation of custom applications. Custom applications are little programs within a program that are design by and for companies who are looking to engage their consumer base within the context of the social media they inhabit.

Games and quizes abound in social media environments like Facebook, mostly because they are fun and people enjoy making and sharing fun things. There are thousands of such applications that serve ZERO business purpose but are created just the same.

The relatively untested waters are the Future of Applications in Social Media for business-based applications. Currently there are less than 100 such applications, but that is already changing…

It works for botanists. How can you make Cross-pollinating Campaigns work for you next marketing campaign?

The key element to understand about online marketing (and marketing in general) is that you will rarely (less than 5% of the time) sell someone on a product based on the first time they see your add. It is a process. For this reason, you need to be able to reach your targets on multiple occasions. If you are able to do this, it is well proven that you will see a much better return on your investment while working with Cross-pollinating Campaigns.

The question is: can you see a similar “multiplier effect” when combining two separte campaigns?

Landing pages are one of the most useful ways to successfully turn targeted traffic into leads. Since the advent of S.E.M. (search engine marketing), we have been able to choose where we want to send our visitors who reach our site via paid online marketing campaigns.

This much discussed topic can provide the essential element that can multiply (or sandbag) the efficiency of your paid advertising campaigns. Paid advertising campaigns are especially helpful when linked to landing pages because of the mirroring potential that technology allows – advertising campaigns can point certain ads to certain pages that match up with the content of the ad, allow you to meet expectations and increase conversions.